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(via Tim Wilson) So Moodle released 1.6 yesterday with a blog feature that I think is a pretty good start though I wish the following options were available per post instead of globally per blog:

The World can read entries set to be world-accessible

All site users can see all blog entries

Users can only see blogs for people who share a course

Users can only see blogs for people who share a group

Users can only see their own blog

Even more interesting, I think, is the discussion that the community has had around how blogs should function in Moodle. Definitely worth taking a few minutes to read the vision of how all of Moodle’s component systems work to supplement the blogging experience instead of combining it into one tool. (For instance, Moodle blogs will not support comments.)

Regardless, I love seeing Moddle moving in this direction, and I love the thoughtful approach the community is taking.

6 Comments

I agree that per post permissions would be nice, but it might be a usability nightmare. I know in SchoolTool we’ve toned down the granularity of those kinds of settings because it was just too much for the user to keep track of.

Harold beat me to it – Elgg does that, and now you can integrate it into Moodle

I do like the idea of being able to choose your audience for specific blog posts. A student could post specifically for a teacher to see their post, or a teacher can post to a specific group of students.

I can see some teachers wanting to have the students use the blog in Moodle, and others preferring Elgg. Choice is good!

I have had my high school students blogging for the last two years. It has been a very useful tool in many ways, and I would strongly suggest all teachers try it regularly. I invite all my participants, post a question they are to respond to, and they post their ideas for all to see.

Version 8.1 of Desire2Learn (D2L) also includes a blog tool. It has granular settings choices that allows you to configure it on a course-by-course basis for who gets to read it (including the world if you like), who gets to comment, etc.

Of course D2L is a commercial product unlike Moodle, but interesting nonetheless that some of the IMS/LMS/CMS platforms are including Web 2.0 tools.

I used the Moodle wiki for a week-long session in April and found it to be a bit clunky and underfeatured. Still, not bad for a first version. Barry